| Summary: | The aim of this study was to assess the effect that feeding <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii</i> CNCM I-1079 (LSB) to lactating sows and their progeny has on inflammatory response and mucosal immunity after vaccination against <i>Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae.</i> Sixty-seven Danbred sows were allotted into two treatments when they entered the farrowing room seven days before the expected farrowing date: control (CON: lactation diet) and LSB (CON + 12 × 10<sup>9</sup> colony forming units (CFU)/d until weaning). At weaning, piglets were equally allotted into two experimental diets according to sow diet: control (CON: 2-phase post-weaning diets) and LSB (CON + 2 × 10<sup>9</sup> CFU/kg and 1 × 10<sup>9</sup> CFU/kg in phases 1 and 2, respectively). The piglets were vaccinated at days 26 and 49 post-weaning. Growth performance and number of IgA producing cells and cytokine’s gene expression in lung, lymph node, and intestine samples at day 70 post-weaning were assessed and analyzed in SPSS Statistics 26: performance with a general linear model with sex, room, sow diet, piglet diet, and their interactions as main effects, and immunity with a Kruskal–Wallis test for k unrelated samples. Piglets from LSB-fed sows displayed a higher average daily gain (ADG; <i>p</i> < 0.01) and a heavier body weight (BW; <i>p</i> < 0.05) during lactation, tended (<i>p</i> < 0.1) to be heavier at day 49, and to have a higher ADG between days 26 and 49; had fewer number of IgA producing cells in the lymph node (<i>p</i> < 0.05); and all the cytokines studied were significantly under-regulated (<i>p</i> < 0.05) in the lung. It is concluded that feeding <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii</i> CNCM I-1079 to sows improved piglet performance during lactation and showed a clear reduction in the inflammatory status of the lungs after vaccination against <i>A. pleuropneumoniae</i>, suggesting that there was a maternal imprinting effect on mucosal protection and a cross-talk between the gut microbiota and the lung.
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